298

were obferved to appear in the iflands of Orkney or'

Zctland, as limb had happened about that time in
other paws of Scotland. From Orkney I was informed,,
that nothing particular had happened; only, that a-
bout the rime mentioned the tideawen obferved to bc,
much higher than ordinary. I received from Zetlaml
o letter, dated aIth May 1756. from Mr. William
Erown, Mailer of the grarnmar-khool at Scalloway
in (that country, 2 kolible and obferving man ;
wherein he wires verbatim as follows. " Blared be
" Cod, wwwithdamiing the great devallations, that
" have been made in otlwr parts of thc world by
" earthquakes, we have been intimly ft= from any
" difalter of that nature: nor has any thing extra-
" ordinary happened in this country lince you left
" ; ou/y on Monday the loth Odober left, Ix-
" twist the hours of three and four in the afternoon,
" the Ilty being very haay, as it uks to bc before a
" Borns of thunder and lightning, there fell a black
" dull over all the country, the in greater quantities
" in fome places than in others. It was very much
likc lampblack ; hut knelled flrongly of fulphur.
" People m the fields had their faces, hands, and
" been, blackened by it. It was followed by rain.
" Sonic people allign the curie of it to form es-
" traordinary eruption of Uccle- But I trail trou-
" ble you no more about it, as no doubt fume of
" your friends have written to you of it form time

In June iyyd. I returned to Zetland ; and, upon

further inquiry, found what Mr. Brown had writrCri
toe was atrelled by Mr. Mitchell, parfon uf the
paritli of Tengwall, and by (corral Gentlemen of
credit and reputation, who had ken and thinned
the

To learn about OCR and PDF Compres